Sanju Samson joins Virat Kohli and KL Rahul Sanju Samson joined the elite list of Virat Kohli and KL Rahul after his match winning 87* against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.Samson is playing in IPL 2026 after a historic Rs 18 crore trade from Rajasthan Royals to Chennai Super Kings. He is currently among the top five run-scorers in the tournament and remains firmly in the race for the Orange Cap, having scored 402 runs in 10 matches at an average of 57.42.
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Stephen Fleming on CSK’s batting struggle, hard pitch and extra bounceAgainst Delhi Capitals on Tuesday, Samson smashed an unbeaten 87 off 52 balls to earn the Player of the Match award. He also made history by becoming the first ever batsman to be involved in two 100-plus partnerships against Delhi Capitals in a single IPL season. Earlier this season, Samson scored his maiden century of the campaign, an unbeaten 115 against Delhi Capitals in Chennai. This innings took his total against DC this season to 202 runs, making it the third highest total in a match against a single opponent in a single edition of IPL.Only Virat Kohli and KL Rahul are ahead of him in the list. Kohli amassed 209 runs against Gujarat Lions during IPL 2016, including two centuries, in what turned out to be his season-high 973 runs in 16 innings. KL Rahul is second with 206 runs against Mumbai Indians in IPL 2022 while representing Lucknow Super Giants having scored two centuries against MI in the same season.Here are the top five highest batting aggregates against a single opponent in the IPL edition:
- 209 – Virat Kohli vs GL in 2016 (100* and 109)
- 206 – KL Rahul vs MI in 2022 (103* and 103*)
- 202 – Sanju Samson vs DC in 2026 (115* and 87*)
- 196 – Chris Gayle vs PWI in 2013 (175* and 21)
- 193 – KL Rahul vs RCB in 2020 (132* and 61*)
CSK lives in the playoffs
Chennai Super Kings kept their playoff hopes alive with a commanding eight-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in IPL 2026. After restricting DC to 155/7 on a slow pitch through disciplined bowling from Akeal Hosein and Noor Ahmad, CSK chased down the target comfortably in 17.3 overs.Despite some resistance from Sameer Rizvi and Tristan Stubbs, Delhi collapsed to 69/5 and never recovered. In reply, Sanju Samson played an unbeaten 87 off 52 balls while Kartik Sharma supported him superbly in an unbroken partnership of 114 runs. The win took CSK to fifth place in the standings while DC came close to elimination.
